Bills DE Chris Kelsay missed Sunday’s game after sustaining a neck injury in practice last Thursday. Now with another game four days later, head coach Chan Gailey has left Kelsay’s availability for the prime time game against the Dolphins up in the air.

“I don’t know if I can give a percentage of how close he was (to playing) Sunday,” said Gailey. “It was either yes or no and it was no Sunday. We’ll have to see this week. It could be yes. It depends on how much he develops and gains confidence as the week progresses. It could be yes and right now it’s probably 50-50.”

What Gailey, his defensive assistants, the athletic training staff and Kelsay himself does not have this week is an opportunity to really test his neck in a real practice because of the short run-up to Thursday night’s game. That will make it tougher for all parties to effectively assess Kelsay’s readiness for the game.

“It’s complicated by that,” said Gailey. “We’re not going to do much hitting at all. So it’s really how he feels and we’ll put him through some simulated things without actually practicing on the field.”

One of Spencer Johnson’s greatest attributes is his versatility as he’s able to play both defensive tackle and defensive end in Buffalo’s 4-3. With Chris Kelsay questionable and Shawne Merriman not 100 percent healthy, Johnson could be called upon to spend more time at defensive end against the Patriots today.

“The ace in the hole for us is Spencer Johnson,” said head coach Chan Gailey. “He’s been able to play defensive end. He played it last year. He can go out there and play there if we need him to. That’s kind of our ace in the hole for the defensive line and defensive end position specifically.”

If Kelsay can’t play, Buffalo would only have three defensive ends in Kyle Moore, Shawne Merriman and Mario Williams. Johnson would give them a fourth option to rotate.

Bills DE Shawne Merriman was listed as questionable for this Sunday’s game at New England after sustaining a chest injury in practice Thursday. Head coach Chan Gailey provided an update.

Gailey however, made it sound as though he’d be ready to play Sunday.

“He just got hit in practice,” said Gailey. “He got treatment so you’ve got to put him on the report. He was okay. He did most things at practice (Friday).”

Merriman may have to carry more of the load at defensive end along with Kyle Moore if Chris Kelsay can’t play Sunday after sustaining a neck injury in practice Thursday. Kelsay is listed as questionable as well.

“I think that they understand accountability to each other better at this point than maybe they ever have,” he said. “We made that point of emphasis. I think they understand that better. Hopefully that does carry over to the games.”

Alright Bills fans, second half of the schedule is up and there are two difficult road games on tap. Let’s hope for the best and get to your latest round of questions from AskChris@bills.nfl.net and @ChrisBrownBills on Twitter.

1 – Dear Chris:

Do you think Chan will ever not only start CJ, but give him the majority of the carries? I love Fred but he is not the game breaker CJ is and I think if he was on a lot of other teams CJ is a 1800 to 2000 yard man an 12-15 touchdowns. I admire Chan’s loyalty but question its productivity? CJ is a game changing threat every time he touches the ball and keeping him on the bench half the time no longer makes a lot of sense. What do you think? Please let me know what you think, and what Chan might be thinking, if he is at all? Thanks!

Jim

CB: While I certainly believe C.J. is a game-changing back I think we all need to be fair to Fred Jackson and respect the fact that his knee was not right or close to 100 percent until Week 7 against Tennessee. We all saw the old Fred Jackson in that game, which was in stark contrast to what we saw the previous three games in his return from the LCL knee injury.

If anyone deserves the benefit of the doubt it’s Jackson. In case you forgot he was lighting the league on fire with numbers similar to what C.J. is doing thus far this season. Right now they’ve got a good balance developed between them. Fred averages 14 touches a game to Spiller’s 13. They combined for over 220 yards of offense against Tennessee, which was the first time that both of them were truly healthy.

I think Spiller can take it the distance on any play and I don’t mind seeing him get more of the work, but Fred’s talents cannot be ignored. Not to mention the fact that in this day in age in the league you do need two backs to get through a season. Week 1 when Fred went down in the first half and Week 3 when Spiller went down in the first half were reminders of that.

2 – Hey Chris,
Any chance that Matt Flynn will be available this season or next? And if he is would the Bills be interested?

CB: I think the Flynn contract could prompt them to move him, but the Seahawks need to find a trade partner that believes he’s a starter. His base salary does not fit for a backup because it goes up to $5.25M and then $6.25M. Unless he’s willing to take a pay cut to go elsewhere Seattle might be stuck with him.

Why didn’t Coach Gailey challenge the fumble call in the 4th qtr against the Titans? From the one replay that was shown, it looked like neither the ball or Gilmore were out of bounds. Since this was a critical time and play of the game I was wondering why it wasn’t challenged. Thank you for your time and consideration

Dan Stepanski
Dallas, PA

CB: We at Buffalobills.com wondered the same thing so we took a look at that play on tape and as the ball bounces near the sideline prior to Stephon Gilmore trying to bat it back in bounds, the nose of the ball is right on the line. It’s difficult to determine whether the nose of the ball is making contact with the sideline, but it’s extremely close.

Knowing that’s before Gilmore even tries to make a play on the ball it’s easier to forgive the absence of a challenge there. Gailey did address this play and said they were not given a good enough replay angle to see if the challenge was worth it. At that point in time preserving your timeouts in the game were becoming critical. Granted if a chance to get the ball back is in play you probably challenge it, but without conclusive video evidence you can understand them not throwing the red flag.

Furthermore the officials would’ve been looking at the same replay angle and likely would have let the play stand as a fumble out of bounds due to lack of conclusive evidence.

4 – Hi Chris,

I saw Chris Kelsay’s press conference regarding lack of effort, and having accountability. Watching the game, it appeared to me that the Bills’ defensive line was fine, and did have a push in the pocket. However, where I noticed a lack of effort was in the linebacking corp, and some in the defensive backfield. Now, I am a native Buffalonian, and have been in Central Florida for just over five years, and I am still a die hard Bills fan. In my opinion, the players are either not buying into the scheme, or the players themselves, be it veterans or rookies, are not holding each other accountable.

Coaches are important, but they can preach all day long, the players have to perform. The offense is fine, when Fitzpatrick does not throw bone head interceptions. I am just venting. I want the Bills to do well in the worst way. What is your analysis?

Tony, Ormond Beach, Fl

CB: I don’t think there’s any question that the defensive has underachieved. Head coach Chan Gailey did say that Mario Williams and Marcell Dareus both have to do better in particular. The linebackers in the Titans game did mess up some gap assignments, including the one that Chris Johnson took 83 to the end zone.

Here’s the good news, Kelsay in that same press conference said players that were not pulling their weight were going to be shaken down and held accountable. And in our 1-on-1 interview with Coach Gailey that will air tomorrow on Buffalobills.com, he told me his players have found a newfound respect for playing for the guy next to them.

“I think that they understand accountability to each other better at this point than maybe they ever have,” said Gailey. “We made that point of emphasis. I think they understand that better. Hopefully that does carry over to the games.”

Let’s hope it makes a difference on the field.

5 – Hey Chris!

Long time…any chance at letting Morrison suit up and help our struggling defense? Keep up the good work

Sean

CB: When Coach Gailey was asked about possible lineup changes and about Morrison specifically, he said that Morrison is probably going to be needed in the lineup before the season is over. However, it sounded like he was indicating that somebody in the linebacking corps over a 16-game season is likely to go down and at that point they’d plug in Morrison. So I don’t see the veteran taking somebody’s job right now.

There was an outside chance that DE Mark Anderson might be ready to return for this week’s game against Houston, but at this point it does not look promising.

Head coach Chan Gailey said earlier in the week that if Anderson could get out on the practice field Thursday he’d have a legitimate chance to play Sunday in Houston. However, Gailey did not sound optimistic that Anderson would make it out for Thursday’s practice.

“Tomorrow will be the day and it’s looking less and less likely,” Gailey said.

Chris Kelsay and Kyle Moore have seen most of the reps that would normally go to Anderson during the past two games that Anderson has missed.

The bye week may have done a lot to allow players to rest their bodies and their minds for the nine-week grind to the end of the regular season, but it’s still surprising to most of them that they find themselves sitting at 3-4 after seven games.

Chris Kelsay was asked if it’s still shocking to be sitting at 3-4.

“We’re all shocked,” said Kelsay. “We never would’ve expected this. That’s the consensus throughout the city, the media and obviously ourselves. But there’s nothing we can do about it now other than take care of business from this point forward. We have to learn from the past, which I think we have, and prepare for what lies ahead and we’re doing everything we can to do that.”

“I think everybody is on the same page,” said Kelsay earlier this week. “I’ve talked to a few of them Kyle (Williams) and Nick (Barnett) and Fred (Jackson). I speak to all of those guys and obviously I speak for the defense, but I think we all see it the same way. We just need to come together and stay focused on the task at hand. It’s a long season and there’s a lot of football to play and that’s what we’re going to do. Whatever needs to be done this week personally and as units we’ve got to get it accomplished.”

Stevie Johnson was asked for his thoughts on Kelsay’s comments and the Bills wideout was in support of them from a leadership perspective.

“I think with him being a leader of that side of the ball, I think it is relevant,” said Johnson. “I think it is all good words. I do not have a problem or an issue with it at all. Just hopefully, whoever he is talking to gets the picture or gets the message and we all can bring this thing together and go forward. I do not have an issue at all with what he said. I think if somebody on the offensive side said something like that, we all take it as a challenge and go for it. There was nobody that said it on the offensive side, but I think what (Chris) Kelsay said was good.”

“I feel like I’m giving my all out there,” said Dareus. “I feel like I’m giving my all. I’m just playing the best that I can play. I take on double teams, I get no movement, and I do the best I can. I hustle to the play. I feel like I’m doing pretty good, but if they want me to give more, I’ll give more. I want to do the best I can on every play.”

“The play on the field is to me in line with the other people on the football team,” said head coach Chan Gailey of Dareus. “Can he be better? Can we be better? Yes, everybody can step their play up a notch and improve our defense and they all have to. I’m not going to talk about individual play one way or the other, it’s a group thing. Everybody has to do what they’re supposed to do.”

Dareus, did face some double teams. He finished Sunday’s game with a tackle.

“You have to depend on the guy next to you, but at the same time you have to be able to tell them what you expect from them,” said Jackson. “If they’re not getting the job done, you got to let them know. But to do that, you have to look at what you’re doing on the field as well. I think guys are going to start pointing out things that need to be done right. That’s just what needs to be done.”

“Some way somehow we’ve got to understand what accountability means across the board, playing hard every play,” he said. “You watch the film and not everybody was playing hard every snap and that’s unacceptable.”

Heading into the Bills game last week, Titans RB Chris Johnson said he “sees a lot of opportunities” in his matchup with the Bills. It qualified as bulletin board material. Unfortunately Buffalo’s run defense wasn’t able to shut him up.

Johnson ran for 195 yards and a pair of touchdowns. It was the third-highest rushing day of his career.

“I don’t think I’ve ever had a bad game versus them, but it seems like my offensive line they come through when we come down here,” he said after the game. “They did a great job of getting on the linemen and getting to the second level of the linebackers and my fullback did a great job of blocking all game.”

In Johnson’s previous two outings against the Bills he rushed for 122 and 153 yards.

“He challenged us and we did not step up to the plate,” said Chris Kelsay. “We had guys out of gaps. We have to look at the film, but we just did not play accountable to the guy next to us.”

The Bills mental toughness was called into question after their losses in Week 4 and Week 5. The players feel they recaptured that in their win against Arizona. Not because they won, but how they won.

“We talked all week about handling the ups and downs and in order to do that you have to be mentally tough,” said Chris Kelsay, who had a safety in the game. “I think that plays into it just as much as the physical side of the game. Everybody is physical and everybody is good, but it’s a matter of continuing to march on when they make a play. We did that. We came out and they hit that fade on the sideline when we had a blitz on and shoot we bounced right back and held them to a field goal. That was big. We’ve got playmakers on this defense and they stepped up.”

Still reveling in the overtime victory in the locker room George Wilson saw greater value in Sunday’s win for his team than coasting to a 20-point victory.

“I think it does carry more weight,” Wilson told Buffalobills.com. “We’d absolutely take a 20-point victory, but a win is a win whether it’s by one point or 100 points. For our guys to rally and to fight back and get our record back to 3-3 heading back east, heading back home with Tennessee coming in this way it’s the perfect way to end this road trip. Hopefully we can keep the winning going, stack these wins and see where it takes us. We’re just happy to have this one.”

A day after the release of Brian Moorman players admitted the move caught them completely off guard.

Veteran players on the roster that had been a teammate of Moorman for multiple seasons had trouble understanding the move.

“I don’t,” said Fred Jackson. “I can’t say that I do because I’m not in special teams a lot so I don’t know what’s going on in there. But they felt it was a move they had to make so they made it.”

“I was surprised,” said Kelsay. “I guess I was surprised more by the timing of it, but Buddy and his staff have reasons for it and we’ve got to respect that and move forward.”

Kelsay found out on Tuesday afternoon. He was at One Bills Drive and ran into Moorman, who had just been delivered the news of his release by GM Buddy Nix.

“I actually found out from him. I was in yesterday and right before I left he told me. It’s tough,” said Chris Kelsay. “I’ve been with him my entire career. He’s a great guy and done a lot for this organization and a lot on and off the field. His PUNT Foundation has been huge and done a lot for upstate and Western New York. He’s going to be missed there’s no question about it. It’s the nature of the business that we’re in and you hate to see a guy like that go.”

“It was a little surprising,” said Lindell. “Whenever it happens it just, it’s always going to surprise you you know what I mean? Then you kind of talk it out and now we have to move on.”

Chan Gailey indicated that it was a difficult decision that they talked about. He pointed chiefly to consistency in Moorman’s game.

“We were hoping to get more consistency and we weren’t able to get it,” said Gailey. “He had a great preseason. He just wasn’t able to get it back.”